Hotel Transylvania Novelization
by LadyStina
Summary: Follow Jonathan as he discovers Hotel Transylvania. Follows the movie, but find out what he thought and what he got up to when the cameras were focused on someone else.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This story is a novelization of Hotel Transylvania from Jonathan's POV. The name of the village is totally made up and geography, as mentioned, only has a very small basis in reality. Hotel Transylvania and it's characters belong to Sony. I'm just borrowing them for my own (and hopefully your) entertainment.

Chapter 1

Jonathan smiled as he tightened the last strap on his backpack after tying down his tent and bedroll. He swung it up on his back and tightened himself to his constant traveling companion. Another day and another new country to explore.

And he was pretty excited about his current itinerary. Sure, most people who backpack through Europe hit the more 'popular' western countries. And, admittedly, so did he. But now he was on the road less traveled in Eastern Europe. Over the past week or so, he trekked through Hungary and was now in Romania.

Too bad he got separated from those dudes he went mountain climbing with. They were pretty cool.

Luckily as he tumbled down after his rope snapped, he caught a glimpse or three of a village not too far away from where he eventually landed and camped. He figured that was as good a place as any to travel to next. Besides, it would help him get his bearings before heading towards Bucharest.

Unless he got side-tracked.

But that was part of the fun! Seeing what was beyond the next hill with no one keeping you to a schedule. And if you spotted something that peaked your interest, then you just go check it out. Like that Lubov castle he went to a few days ago. That was awesome. A real life Transylvanian castle!

"Let's get going," Jonathan said to his backpack. Hey, there was no one else around! As he started walking in the direction he thought that village was, he popped an earbud in one ear, leaving the other free, and started playing music on his phone.

Shortly after mid-day, Jonathan entered the village he was heading towards.

Well, he entered _a_ village, anyway. That was close enough. He turned the music off his phone and removed the earbud. He preferred to listen to his music when he was rolling solo. When he reached a town, he liked to be able to interact with people. Although most of the people he saw here seemed to be a little skittish and were giving him a wide berth.

Weird.

They must not get a lot of tourists around here. He spotted a tavern just down the street and his stomach reminded him that the trail mix he munched on had been hours ago. He headed that way and waved at some locals as he went.

He opened the tavern's door and paused to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting. Once his eyes adjusted, he took in the décor with a muttered, "Cool." He realized that he was still blocking the doorway, so he moved further into the low-ceilinged building.

" _P_ _ot sa te ajut_?" a woman asked as he approached one of the many empty tables and stood beside it.

Jonathan smiled sheepishly and, using his hands to emphasize his words he said, "Yeah, uh, my Romanian isn't at, you know, a _conversation_ level if you know what I mean. More like a few words I learned from this guy while we waited in a line in Budapest. I hate to be _that guy_ , but does anyone here speak English? If not, that's cool. I have an app for that. It's just slow, you know?" He waved his phone around for emphasis.

The woman rolled her eyes and muttered, " _Turist nebun..._ " before yelling, "Mihai!"

"Oh, sweet. Those are two of the words I know! Still not sure what they mean, but whatever," Johnny commented with a shrug as a middle-aged man entered the room from the back. The locals had a quick conversation in Romanian that Johnny had no hope of following before the guy crossed the room and approached Johnny.

"Yes? I am Mihai and this is Ana. Can we help you?" he asked in heavily accented English as he got closer.

"Yeah. Sorry about being a pain, Mihai, was it? My name's Jonathan," he introduced himself after apologizing. He knew it was a common complaint that tourists didn't know the local language. "I'll just take a sandwich and some water, please. I've been backpacking all day and I'm starved!"

Mihai nodded and relayed the order to Ana.

"Hey great. Thanks, man," Jonathan said as he glanced around. He focused back on Mihai on asked, "Hey? So I was mountain climbing with these dudes but then got totally turned around. Mind telling me where I am, and if there's anything to see nearby? Or at least on the way to Bucharest?"

Mihai sat down across from the table that Jonathan was standing beside. It was cumbersome to sit while wearing his backpack, and he didn't like to take it off until he was settling in for the night. Everything he owned was literally on his back. So he'd just keep standing.

"You are in Râcalia," Mihai stated. "We don't see many tourists this far from the cities."

Jonathan smiled and replied, "Oh well, you know. I like to roam. Gotta see what's out there, right, Mihai?"

Mihai gave him a quick, tolerant grin before he got serious. "It is good to travel. Perhaps you should travel to city of Sibiu. It is close and they are having a festival soon. There are many things to see there. This is just a small village."

Jonathan replied, "Oh, you'd be surprised at some of the things I've seen in small villages. This one time, I was in a small village in Germany, and they had a working wine cellar that was built in like the 1300's. During the tour, this dude tripped and went straight through a wine cask. Totally ruined my shirt."

Ana came back with Jonathan's sandwich and placed it in front of him. He smiled up at her as he picked it up and tried one of the very few Romanian words he knew, "Multi-mesc, Ana." He looked back at Mihai and asked, "Did I get that right?"

Mihai gave a half-smile and said, "No. But close enough. And there is nothing around here besides _pădurea bântuită_. You must not go there," he commanded. Ana had gasped when he mentioned the new location.

"Really? Why not?" Jonathan asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"The forest. It is haunted! Many people go in, and very few come out again. My father's brother disappeared in there as a boy," Mihai relayed before almost collapsing in tears. Ana began to comfort him. Perhaps a bit insensitively, Jonathan snapped a quick pic of the two.

He wasn't a big note-taker (particularly while eating!), but visuals always helped. When he pulled up a pic of someone telling him about a new place, the story always came back when he was visually reminded of it. It was a neat trick he'd discovered since he started backpacking. He had to keep traveling light, after all. Not to mention note-taking just stank of planning. He preferred to just roll with things as they came.

And he was totally going to check out that spooky forest. Who wouldn't?

And they said this town didn't have anything to offer.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jonathan stayed around town until after dark. That gave him a chance to charge his phone and call to check in with his family in California while he had a signal. And once he knew they'd be awake. That's the thing with a ten hour time difference. Funnily enough, they didn't care to hear his travel updates at three in the morning California time.

Since there wasn't a youth hostel, and he always tried to save money on lodgings, he headed out. There was always his tent and bedroll. And another night under the stars would be pretty awesome. The weather was perfect for it.

Besides, if he was going to check out a spooky forest, might as well up the creep factor, right? Not like there were _really_ any ghosts out in that forest. But it was really cool that the locals still kept up their strong superstitions. That always made for more interesting stories.

He happened to see a huge spider making a pretty intricate web beside the path he was following. He stopped to snap a pic with his phone. Every now and then, he liked to take artsy photos. Just to say he did. As he got just the right angle and snapped the pic, the ground gave out under his feet and he tumbled down a small hill.

Once he came to a halt, he shook his head and stood up. "We're really going to have to talk about your balance one of these days, backpack," he muttered accusingly as he shifted the weight to where it was once again comfortable. A light in the distance caught his eye and he looked towards it.

What was a village doing out here? Mihai said that nobody entered these woods. Looks like they have a bonfire. Maybe they're having a party!

Excited by the thought, Jonathan hurried down through the woods to get to the hidden village, only tripping on the uneven ground twice.

He walked out between two buildings and stopped as he looked around. There wasn't a bonfire. And three of those buildings had their fronts pulled down, exposing just a frame inside.

Weird.

But not as weird as the town-dudes on fire. Instead of frantically screaming, they would just emit an occasional groan. And they were all heading out of the (fake?) town. Maybe he had stumbled onto a movie set? Surely Romania… or did they call this area Transylvania still? Well, surely _they_ created their own movies.

Smiling as curiosity got the better of him, he decided to follow the fiery-dudes.

Stuntmen. That's it. They had to be stuntmen. And they probably just dared each other to see how long they could stand the heat before they had to extinguish the flames.

Awesome.

He took a few pictures of the movie set as he followed the stuntguys down a road. The road then dropped at a very steep angle, catching Jonathan by surprise. He tumbled down the ramp just to see that it lead into a tunnel. Fortunately, the guys that were still on fire lit the tunnel up pretty well so he got to his feet and kept following them.

The tunnel seemed to last forever, but it eventually opened up. And when it did, Jonathan could only stop and stare in amazement. There was a huge castle right in front of him. The road he was on lead right towards it, and the castle was well lit. Most windows on nearly every floor had a light on. He _had_ to check this place out!

He crossed the bridge and walked up to the main entrance. Surprisingly, it was a revolving door. Odd entranceway for a castle. And not the greatest to get through with an all-inclusive backpack. But he'd fought this battle before. He made sure no one was coming out the door before turning around and backing into the door. He'd found that this way his backpack didn't get caught.

Once he was free, he turned around to take in the castle entry-way. And it was _amazing._ There also seemed to be some sort of costume party going on. How awesome was this?!

Suddenly, he was grabbed by the shoulders and pushed back into the revolving door by this guy wearing a vampire costume. The fangs were a dead give-away. The lights kept flashing, showing that they were spinning round and round in the door.

The guy demanded, "Who are you? And how did you find this place?

Jonathan smiled, introduced himself, and explained, "Oh, I'm Jonathan. And I was just mountain climbing with some dudes, and heard this story about a spooky forest. And who's _not_ going to go into a spooky forest, right? So, then I see these goofy-looking dudes on fire. And I just kind of followed them to this, like, amazing castle."

The guy then asked, "How many of you are there?"

Jonathan answered, "Just me. I like to hit it alone. You meet so many awesome people in the youth hostels." He lifted a bit of the cape the guy was wearing, felt the satin-y quality of it, and commented, "Hey, speaking of awesome, that cape thing is killing it. Is there, like, a costume party here?" he asked as he caught glimpses of people with totally kicking monster costumes.

Instead of answering, the guy pulled Jonathan close to his chest and muttered, "What have I done? This is all my fault." He said a little louder, "You have to leave." And then pushed the both of them back outside. He was basically carrying Jonathan, because his feet couldn't touch the ground. They suddenly came to a stop and the guy muttered, "Oh, no."

Jonathan protested the quick movement and asked, "Hey dude? What's going on?" but it was muffled since he was pressed into the guy's chest. He heard someone talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Be right with you," the guy said to whomever was talking. Jonathan was carried back through the revolving door and came to another sudden stop. Once again, there was some muffled talking. And Jonathan was getting nearly tossed back and forth as the guy kept turning quickly. "I'll get back to you, Mr. Hydraberg," he said to somebody.

And they were moving again. Jonathan finally managed to turn his head away from the dude's chest and asked, "Dude, seriously, what's up? It's kind of funky to breathe under here." He was tossed around a little more before finally being shoved into a room with the door closing behind them.

Jonathan, finally on his feet again, looked around the dark room and said, "Wow! This room's kind of small for a big castle. No bed, but check out these awesome dustpans they give you." He picked up a skull with a handle that caught his eye and played with the button that made its jaw open and close.

"Quiet, you fool," the dude snapped before shoving Jonathan up against the door and riffling through his backpack asking, "What weapons are you keeping in this container? Your pitchforks?" He suddenly let go and let Jonathan stand back up. As Jonathan turned around he saw one of his dirty shirts on the floor and the strange guy cowering under his cape exclaiming, "Oh! I can't breathe. It's killing me."

Jonathan bent to pick up his shirt and admitted, "Yeah, definitely due for a fluff and fold," as he shoved it back into the top of his pack. Who knew someone could get so bent out of shape because of a smelly shirt? But, dude had a point. He couldn't remember the last time he'd done his laundry. Maybe he was more ripe than he thought.

Jonathan's cell phone suddenly vibrated, probably from a text, when the dude snatched it out of Jonathan's pocket and asked while turning his head back and forth, "What is this? A torture device? A secret mind controller? You won't read my thoughts. I won't let you."

Seriously? This guy has never seen a smart phone before? They weren't _that_ far away from civilization.

Jonathan barely kept from rolling his eyes at this guy's dramatics and said, "Dude, it's just music. Here, try it." He connected his earbuds into the phone and put them into vampire-costumed guy's ears, took his phone back, and let him listen to Sexy and I Know It. It was currently queued up in his playlist.

Jonathan replied to his text while the music played. The guy over-reacted again and started to cry out, "Ohh! It's taking my soul!"

"What? It's a good jam. Don't be a grandpa," Jonathan chided as he put his phone away.

The guy started really getting into character and broke out a dramatic speech, "You need to go. No human has ever entered this castle. And if someone should see you, the safety of the hotel, the sanctuary, no one would ever come again."

You can't _not_ applaud someone when they go all out for their costume. So Jonathan cheered, "Yeah, go for it. 'Ever come again!'" he imitated. "I love your Dracula voice. It's so over the top." He said as he crossed the room and sat down on a clear space on a crate.

Dracula-dude continued his freak-out, or whatever and said, "And Mavis, if she saw you, she would know that I lied. No!"

"Who's Mavis?" Jonathan asked. "Is this her room? I'm good with a roommate. I had six brothers growing up, so I could totally share." Alright, it was only two brothers and a sister. But that's still a lot of sharing when you're the second youngest. He looked around the room some more to see if there was anything else worth noticing.

Weird-guy muttered something, but Jonathan thought he'd continue with a roomie story. "One time, in Hamburg, I roomed with this dude who I caught stealing my shampoo. I said, 'Whoa, man,' and he threw a flower pot at me, but he was cool."

"What are you babbling about?" the guy asked, but Jonathan wasn't really paying attention as something caught his eye.

"What? Whoa. Check out these awesome costumes," Jonathan commented as he flipped through a few jackets hanging on a rack beside him.

"Costumes?" The guy muttered before grabbing Jonathan's backpack.

Jonathan suddenly got alarmed and asked, "What's this?" The backpack was removed from him and placed on the other side of the room. Jonathan started moving for it and explained, "Sorry, man. I just can't be without my backpack. You know, everything I own's in there."

He moved towards it but was pushed back by the vampire dude as he said, "It'll be right here."

Jonathan kept looking at his backpack and admitted, "Okay, I just… I love my backpack."

Jonathan blinked and the guy wasn't in his sight anymore. He turned and saw him approaching from the other side of the room. "Whoa." The guy started very quickly applying a blue makeup to Jonathan's skin. "Hey, what are you doing?" Jonathan asks. "What are you…" suddenly the guy has a hair brush and a can of hairspray and attacked Jonathan's hair. "What are you doing to my hair? Stop." Surprisingly that works, but then he approached again with a pen or something and started drawing on Jonathan's neck. Johnny tried to protest, "Oh, wait, that tickles. Come on, man." Then, the guy took the greenish jacket off the hanger and put it on Jonathan.

It's like two sizes too big, but as Jonathan looked down at himself, he realized that the dude just gave him a kicking costume for the awesome costume party going on. Vampire-dude looked him up and down and gave a self-satisfied nod before opening the door and ushering him out.

Jonathan was really proud of the costume the friendly guy made for him and excited that he'd be able to attend the costume party. He announced, "Check it out. I'm a Franken-homie." He really should get his new friend's name. It's just been hectic since they met though.

"Yes, hello," his friend greeted someone dressed as a witch as they passed.

Jonathan called out, "Look at me!" This was a contest-worthy costume. And it was only thrown together in that small room.

His new friend was quietly saying something to the other costumed guests. And they all put a lot of work in their costumes. Jonathan commented on it, "Man, everybody stepped it up tonight." Then he noticed they were heading for the revolving doors again and asked, "Wait, why are we going to the front door? Are we leaving?" Wasn't they going to stay for the party? And his backpack was still in that little room. There was no way he could leave without his backpack!

Suddenly a short dude on a stick was nose to nose with Jonathan and called, "Bonjour, Dracula!"

Huh. He thought he was dressed like Frankenstein, but whatever. "Hey, Sniffy," he greeted the nose. "What's going on?" His friend in the cape pulled him behind his back and away from the new guy. This gave him a pretty awesome view of the party as those two talked about something.

Maybe these guys were involved with that movie set in the woods. Everyone's costume was spot-on. Although he wouldn't have put people in witch's makeup in maid outfits, but that could just be a regional preference.

And he even thought he could see through that skeleton in the corner. He took a few steps away from his buddy and found that the view _through_ the skeleton changed. He had to comment, even if no one was listening, "Whoa. Check that costume out."

He approached the skeleton and couldn't keep his curiosity in check. He complimented the costume and said, "Wow. Seriously, I just have to ask you: How are you pulling this off?" He squatted down and swore he could see right through the ribcage. He reached out with his hand and said, "I mean, it looks so real. Like, I could just put my hand right through…"

His hand was passing through the ribcage. There was a feminine gasp and he snatched his hand back from the ribs and looked up at the skull above him with a horrifying realization just as a bony hand reach out and slapped his face.

"What do you think you're doing?" another skeleton (a guy's voice this time) demanded protectively, hovering belligerently above the now cowering Jonathan.

Jonathan looked at both skeletons and accused, "She's real. You're real!"

"Yeah, and I'll give you a real beating. Keep your hands out of my wife!" the guy skeleton threatened before shoving the terrified Jonathan backwards.

Right into a strangely-giving decorative boulder. With white fur.

That didn't make much sense, so Jonathan backed up and looked up. And up. And up. Just to find that he had been thrown into the heel of what could only be a giant yeti.

They weren't wearing costumes.

They were real.

This was _real_.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jonathan screamed. He looked around and _really_ noticed the witches. And gargoyles. And zombies. And water monsters.

He screamed again and started running, trying to avoid every creature he could.

But then he stepped on a brain. With eyes. When he lifted his foot, the brain floated up and closed on his face threateningly. Jonathan whimpered, turned and started running again.

Unfortunately, he wasn't looking where he was going until he bumped into someone. Just as he turned to look, he saw the pumpkin head of the guy fall off and he was staring straight into the empty neck of a headless dude.

Jonathan screamed, turned and ran once again. He saw some gargoyles heading straight for him, so he turned again, but kept running.

The front door. He was facing the front door! He just had to make it outside. He'd mourn his backpack later. They had a good run.

He made it several strides when suddenly a human-sized fly was right in his face. He skidded to a stop and tried not to notice his screaming reflection in the multi-faceted eyes. Before he could move a giant tarantula-type spider walked _over_ him. Jonathan cowered and whimpered until it had almost walked past. Then he had to start running again.

Jonathan kept an eye on the spider while running towards the door. Unfortunately, he slipped on a trail of slime that a blob monster left behind and slid out of control. And right into the blob monster which caused him to bounce back towards the interior of the castle.

He bumped into somebody, but amazingly landed on his feet while somehow holding a broom.

The broom suddenly shot straight up into the air with a flash of green light, bringing the unsuspecting Jonathan with it. The surprise made him let go, but he managed to grab it again as the broom whizzed by him. He held on tightly as the broom spun in circles then took off flying wildly through the air.

Somehow, after crashing through luggage and weaving through creatures, he ended up sitting on the broom. It was still out of control though and he kept screaming. He was in the air and flew around some drapes before heading right towards a young, dark haired woman.

That's all he registered before crashing into her, knocking her off the stairs, and himself off the broom. They both landed with a heavy thud on the hard, stone floor.

Groaning, Jonathan sat up and saw the woman he crashed into. She was wearing a black dress, black lace gloves, and red and black striped tights. He brought his gaze up to her face, noticed her black lipstick and shoulder-length hair before meeting her lovely blue eyes.

Time stood still. He couldn't look away, even if he wanted to.

She was amazing. And amazingly beautiful.

He didn't know who she was, but he had finally found what he didn't even know he was searching for.

One day… he was gonna marry that girl…

After a blissful eternity, the black cape of his new friend blocked his view. "Mavis, honey, are you all right?" his friend asked the girl. Once his view was blocked, he started feeling all the aches and pains he received from his fall.

A feminine voice answered bemusedly, "Yeah, I think so. That was weird."

Jonathan held his aching head and groaned. There was a knot. He totally felt a knot. "Ughh… My head hurts," he complained.

The feminine voice asked, "Um, who is that?"

The caped-guy answered, "Who is what? Oh, that. That is nobody." Suddenly, Jonathan remembered why he'd been running around before he fell. The monsters were _real_. That means his buddy was _actually_ a vam-

"Seriously, Dad?" the girl asked in a disbelieving voice.

Jonathan pulled back the cape, looked at the girl in shock, and repeated, "Dad?"

The girl kinda shrugged and looked away while saying in a resigned voice, "Yeah, I know, Dracula's daughter." She looked back at him and said, "Everyone freaks out at first."

"Dracula?!" Jonathan yelled in horror while leaning forward in disbelief. The friendly guy was THE Dracula and a vampire. And his _daughter_ was totally hot.

Suddenly the cape wrapped around Jonathan and Dracula said, "Okay, we got to go." The next thing Jonathan knew he was being carried somewhere.

Suddenly, he was standing in front of a heavy wooden door. He quickly pushed it open and ran from the vampire behind him while pleading, "Please don't kill me! I'm so young." Looking around the room, he ran to the window. He banged on the window when he reached it while continuing, "I have so many places I want to see." Realizing that even if he could get the window open, there was nowhere to go but straight down, he turned and faced Dracula. Just to see him approaching with a stern look upon his face. "I've got tickets to six Dave Matthews Band concerts," he admitted while still pleading for his life.

He suddenly spied a trap door right in front of him. Anything was better than an angry vampire. "I'm getting out of here," he declared as he lifted the trap door and dove inside.

His escape plan was quickly foiled when a monstrous roar suddenly erupted from beneath him. Right where he was falling to. He quickly extended his hands and feet to stop his descent into the pit below him and shimmied back up into the room with the vampire. At least he had a chance for escape up there. Once he made it back into the bedroom, he ran for the head of the bed and instinctively climbed the drapes to put more distance between himself and Dracula.

Dracula complained, "Shut up already. It's impossible for me to think with all your noise." He looked down into the trap door pit and called out, "Sorry, Glen. Go back to sleep." He then shut the door as 'Glen' let out another roar.

Huh. That statement didn't sound like he was about to kill him. Might as well ask, "Wait. Aren't you going to suck my blood?"

Dracula scoffed and turned away with his head in his hands. He sat down facing away from Jonathan and said, "Classic human paranoia. Human blood is so fatty, and you never know where it's been." Jonathan slid down the drapes and crawled onto the bed closer to Dracula while he was talking.

To clear up confusion, Jonathan moved to the foot of the bed and asked, "So, Dracula doesn't drink blood?"

Dracula replied in a nearly insulted voice, "No! I use a blood substitute. Either Near Blood or Blood Beaters. You can't tell the difference."

Jonathan leaned over to get his face closer to Dracula's and clarified, "So, wow. You're, like, the real Count Dracula." He pulled back on the bed and continued with an impression from the movies, "Like, 'I'm Dracula. Bleh, bleh-bleh.'"

Dracula said disgustedly, "I've never said that in my life. 'Bleh, bleh-bleh.' I don't know where that comes from."

Jonathan looked around still somewhat confused about what was happening and asked, "Can I just ask, what exactly is this place?"

"What is this place?" Dracula repeated solemnly as he walked towards the window. The window opened by itself causing the cape the vampire was wearing to billow out behind him as he answered, "It's a place I built for all those monsters out there, lurking in the shadows, hiding from the persecution of humankind. A place for them and their families to come to and be themselves. A place void of torches, pitchforks, angry mobs. A place of peace, relaxation and tranquility."

"Cool. So, it's like a hotel for monsters?" Jonathan asked as he translated it for himself.

Dracula's posture slumped and he replied flatly, "Yes, exactly. 'A hotel for monsters.' Way to sum it up."

Suddenly Dracula rushed up to Jonathan, leaned over him and commanded, "Okay, hop on my back. We're leaving." Then, with a flash of purple, the man was gone leaving a bat in his place.

Jonathan jumped back startled and said, impressed, "Oh, man, you're a bat now. I always wanted to fly," he admitted. "What's it like?" The Dracula-bat grabbed the back of his jacket and suddenly lifted Jonathan into the air. Jonathan commented, "This is insane. Wait. Wait, I want to stay. Can Frankenstein sign my costume? Can I meet the Invisible Man? Hey, if I stuck my hand in the Invisible Man's mouth, would it disappear?" he asked as he was flown out of the room and out the window.

They just crossed the balcony when there was another bat in front of them which cheerily said, "Hi." Jonathan couldn't keep his eyes off the new bat.

Dracula-bat exclaimed, "Mavey! What are you doing, my sweet little blood orange? Our friend was just leaving."

Jonathan admitted, "Yeah, he was flying me out the window."

Dracula chuckled nervously and said, "This guy, he's so funny," as he flew them back inside. Dracula changed back into his vampire form and said, "Look, you have something on your face." He pulled Jonathan further in the room. He suddenly got that stern-face again and threatened, "Play along if you ever want to see your precious backpack."

Jonathan looked towards the window and started to smile as the new bat flew into the room. With a flash of purple, the bat changed into the girl he ran into on the stairs.

"Whoa," he said in amazement, ignoring the scowl Dracula was giving him. She was gorgeous. Suddenly a thought hit him and he asked, "So, wait, you didn't have any clothes on when you were a bat? Or were they bat-sized?"

She ignored him and asked Dracula, "Who exactly is that?"

Dracula let out what might have been a panicked noise of, "Hmmmm," while his eyes shifted back and forth. Suddenly, he turned to face his daughter with an arm around Jonathan's back and said, "Honeybat. You see, it's your birthday. And you know I want you to have the bestest, specialest party of your life. So, well, I needed some help." Jonathan could only just smile since he was 'playing along.'

The girl asked disbelievingly, "You needed help?"

Dracula said, "Well, look, I am very good, but I thought it would be even more bestest, specialest if someone closer to your age helped plan the party."

The girl rushed up to Jonathan excitedly and asked, "You're my age?" She had a wide smile and he could clearly see her fangs now.

"Sure," Jonathan answered. She looked about his age. Then he thought he'd ask to double-check, "Well, how old are you?"

"A hundred and eighteen," she answered simply.

Jonathan felt his eyes pop open in shock and yelled in surprise, "One hundred and-" Dracula elbowed him in the stomach, forcing all the air out of his lungs. He coughed and fibbed breathlessly, "Yeah, I'm one twenty-one." Never thought he'd add a hundred years to his age. Like, ever.

"Really?" she asked excitedly.

He still couldn't breathe, but answered with a, "Mm-hmm."

Dracula assured her with an arm around Jonathan, "You see? Everything is very, very normal. I'm throwing a party, and he's helping."

Suddenly, the decorative suit of armor that had been standing harmlessly against the wall began talking with its visor raising and lowering, "Sir, there's an emergency." Jonathan was high strung enough at the moment that when it started talking, he quickly hid behind Dracula.

"Not now," Dracula snapped at the animated armor. Jonathan slowly stood on his tip-toes to look over Dracula's shoulder in amazement at the suddenly animate armor. "Can't you see we're in the middle of something very normal here?" Jonathan decided that it was relatively safe and walked over to the armor to investigate.

The girl started asking questions of her father, but Jonathan wasn't paying attention to their conversation. He stood in front of the armor, hesitantly lifted his hand and flicked the visor upwards. There was nothing inside. He lifted it again for a longer look, but then the armor's left hand raised up to flip the visor down again.

Jonathan flinched, but then caught sight of his reflection. "Whoa, look at my face," he commented while staring into the armor's chest plate. This was the first time he'd seen himself with the Frankenstein makeup. He lifted his arms and roared, just to see what he looked like. But then the armor lifted one of its arms, put its hand on his face and pushed him backwards.

Oh it is on! He could take a bunch of hollow metal. Jonathan got back up into a boxer's ready position and jumped around to warm up. He threw a few practice punches in the direction of the armor, keeping an eye on his reflection. He looked pretty cool. Finally, he threw a punch at the chest plate. The armor punched him in response and caused him to stumble back across the room. Jonathan then rushed him and tried slapping at the armor. The armor gave as good as it got, and they were in the middle of a slap fight.

Jonathan smirked and used one of his legs to kick out the legs of the armor while it was distracted with using its hands. Amazingly it worked and the armor collapsed to the ground and broke apart. All right! Certified yellow-belt since 1997! The armor was scattered in pieces so he picked up the helmet and looked inside. Still empty. Shrugging, and super-curious, he put it on his head.

He tried to look around, but he couldn't see anything out of the visor. Wasn't that the point of these things? To protect the knight's faces in battle? How could you battle if you couldn't see?

Jonathan heard someone approaching him, and then the girl said, "So, maybe if you're not planning later, we can hang out." She lifted the visor of the helmet he was wearing and looked into his face with a small smile.

"Sounds good," he happily agreed. He totally wanted to hang out with her.

Amazingly, Dracula also agreed, "Yes. You hear that? It sounds good." He started ushering her out the door. "So you will hang out. See you later, my honey." He chuckled before adding, "Lovely." He shut the door and told Jonathan grumpily, "Okay, you're not hanging out. Because you are leaving." He started pressing different places on the wall.

Jonathan protested, "But the opposite, you said!" He couldn't leave! Not without at least talking to that girl. Dracula stepped back from the wall as it split open with a secret passage. He didn't want to leave, but _that_ was pretty awesome.

Suddenly, the visor that was pushed up on top of Jonathan's head moved up and down and protested, "But, sir, the emergency."

Dracula ignored the armor and commanded, "Follow me." Before disappearing into the revealed tunnel in a flash of purple light. Jonathan pulled the helmet off his head, threw it down and raced up the revealed flight of stairs after the vampire.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Once he entered the passage, the wall closed up behind him, making him jump. He would've liked time to check it out, but Dracula wasn't waiting on him. He turned a corner and then hurried down the stone stairs in front of him and asked, "Where are we going?"

He finally caught up to the vampire who was holding an honest-to-god torch. "Just getting rid of you through a secret tunnel so she does not see us," he answered.

Curiosity got the better of Jonathan again and he had to ask, "So, can I ask you a question? Is that real? About the garlic thing?"

They entered a huge room with door leading in all directions as Dracula surprisingly answered, "Yes, I cannot have it. My throat swells." Huh. The lore twisted an allergic reaction into a way to kill him? Well… it's not wrong…

Jonathan continued, "Huh. Wooden stake to the heart?"

Dracula scoffed and said dryly, "Yeah, well, who wouldn't that kill?" He finally picked a passageway and they entered it.

"Ok. What about sunlight?" Jonathan kept questioning.

Dracula shot him a look and said drily, "Most people would take offense to all these questions asking how to kill them."

"Wha?" Johnny questioned in confusion before realizing that he was offending the vampire guiding him through these secret tunnels. Where nobody else was. And nobody knew where _he_ was. "No, no. No," he tried to diffuse the sudden tension. "I'm just curious about the legends. You're the first vampire I've ever met. You can totally ask me about humans if you want."

Dracula rolled his eyes and looked forward again while asking, "Must all humans talk incessantly?"

Johnny answered seriously, "Well, no, I wouldn't think so. I've known some pretty quiet people. In fact, my sister has a friend that I have honestly never heard talk. And she was over like _all_ the time when I was still at home."

"Apparently, some can't catch hints very well either," Dracula muttered right before running right into a dead end. That had to hurt.

Dracula turned around with a frustrated groan and Jonathan followed him back to that main room before they entered another hallway.

Jonathan was just excited to see all these secret passages. Dracula finally stopped in front of a torch-holder anchored to the wall and said, "Ah. Here we go." He pulled on it and the stone wall split down the middle and slid off to either side, revealing a bed in the next room.

Dracula bent down to apologize to a couple small bugs on the bed, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm a little lost. Yes, I know it's your honeymoon. I apologize. Go back to doing what you were doing."

Jonathan just looked excitedly back and forth between Dracula and the bugs. Bugs! On their honeymoon! How cool was that? Except for the fact that Dracula kept trying to get him out of the hotel, this entire trip was absolutely amazing.

They backed out of the room and left the bugs to do their thing.

They exited that hallway to the main room and entered the next hallway over. Dracula admitted, "I'm not down here much. It's meant to be an exit if humans ever invade."

Somehow they exited that hallway into the main room again. Or possibly another room that looked very similar. Jonathan had gotten turned around a long time ago.

As he looked around trying to figure out if they were in the same room or not, he asked, "So, I'm, like, the first human here, huh? That's really cool." He'd never thought of all the monsters he'd ever heard about having plans to escape in case humans showed up. He was learning all sorts of new things!

Dracula stopped in front of another torch holder and muttered, "Oh, boy. I think this is it." He pulled down on the holder and the section of wall opened in front of him. But instead of another hallway, or even a bedroom, it opened up to a shower.

That was currently in use.

The skeleton in the shower screamed, covered herself and demanded, "What's happening?" It sounded like the same skeleton that Jonathan had stuck his hand through earlier. Now that he wasn't freaking out about monsters being real, he was just fascinated by them.

Dracula backed up and apologized, "I'm terribly sorry. My mistake."

The shower curtain was pulled back and the male skeleton demanded, "What is wrong with you people?" as he picked up a sponge and threw it in Dracula's face. The secret door slammed shut. Dracula slowly removed the sponge from his face and dropped it on the floor.

"Come on," he grumbled as they continued down the hallway. It eventually got smaller and they were both having to crouch to walk.

"Oh, man. This place is amazing!" Jonathan commented when they were in the smaller space. His hair was dragging on the low ceiling.

Dracula chided, "Okay, I could really use some silence right now." Jonathan just kept smiling and looking around the secret passages.

Next they were heading down some stairs in a large empty space. Jonathan was checking out his surroundings when Dracula suddenly grabbed him and turned him around and then they were heading back up the stairs. Apparently, Dracula realized they were heading in the wrong direction again.

"You should really map this place out," Jonathan advised when they reached the main room with the doorways again. "An escape passage that you can't actually escape from kinda defeats the purpose, you know?"

"Oh sure. And just let _that_ fall into the wrong hands. And didn't I say to be quiet?" Dracula said sharply. Jonathan just shrugged and continued to follow.

They finally spotted another torch holder. Dracula stopped in front of it and pulled it down while saying, "All right, third time's a-" he broke off his sentence as the secret door opened onto chaos.

The place looked like a mad scientist laboratory. And the effect was only helped by the fight going on. A huge guy had a zombie lifted over his head before he threw him into something electrified. A wolfman was chewing on a different zombie. And a mummy was punching yet another zombie, before turning it upside down and banging its head on the bartop. To top it off, there were small wolf-pups running under everyone's feet.

The huge guy looked over towards them and greeted, "Drac."

Dracula pushed Jonathan out of sight before he was noticed and responded, "Yes, Frankie?"

Frankie(?) asked conversationally, as if he wasn't _just_ in a fight, "Hey, buddy, what you been doing?"

Dracula muttered to Jonathan, "Don't move." He then entered the room and demanded, "Never mind that. What you been doing?"

Jonathan just slumped against the wall and muttered to himself. Here he was in a hotel full of monsters, and he couldn't even go in the room and watch Dracula break up a monster fight. Lame. But he was in a monster costume, right? So _what_ if he was seen?

He peeked into the room while attempting to stay out of sight. He couldn't really hear what was going on, but by the time he decided to look Dracula had already broke up the fight and was talking to huge guy, werewolf-man, and mummy-dude.

Suddenly, Dracula's daughter was hanging upside down in front of him and greeted, "Hey!"

Jonathan backed up in surprise and uttered a small, "Whoa."

She continued standing upside down and asked, "What are you doing here? I thought you were planning." She jumped down and stood upright in front of him

Jonathan stuttered a little bit while thinking of a topic he could distract her with since he wasn't _actually_ helping to plan her party. He eventually said, "I, uh… I never caught your name."

"My name's Mavis," she answered.

Her name was just as pretty as she was. "Mavis? That's a pretty neat name," he told her with a small smile.

She looked away bashfully and said, "Yeah, my mom picked it." She looked back at him, leaned forward a little and asked, "So, are you going to tell me your name?"

Jonathan panicked and tried to stall, "Me? My name? Good question." He felt his hair standing straight up and remembered his disguise. "Well, obviously, I'm Frankenstein," he said nonchalantly while leaning against the wall, hoping she would buy it.

She just giggled and said, "No, you're not. Frankenstein is my uncle over there." She turned and gestured while saying, "The gentleman hugging Zombie Mozart."

Jonathan looked to where she was pointing and saw the huge guy holding a zombie in a choke-hold.

"Right. Of course, he's your uncle," he muttered, embarrassed to be caught in a lie. Thinking quickly he tried to play it off and said, "Well, see, I'm not _the_ Frankenstein." He face-palmed to help him think then came up with, "I'm his… cousin, Johnnystein."

"Johnnystein?" Mavis asked for clarification.

"Hey, Mavis," a small voice suddenly said right by Johnny's ear. He glanced over only to find a spider hanging in his face.

He screamed and ran into the room, tripping, falling, and crashing through a table as he went. As he sat up, Frankenstein came stomping over before Dracula got in between the two.

"Who. Is that?" Frankenstein demanded.

Johnny gasped and whispered to Dracula, "Are these monsters going to kill me?"

"Not as long as they think you're a monster," Dracula answered with his own whisper.

Johnny gasped again and commented with a shocked whisper, "That's kind of racist."

Dracula replied flatly, "We'll talk later."

When Dracula stood up, Johnny stood up with him. So the monsters might kill him if they didn't think he was a monster. That means he had to monster it up. Time to make like Frankenstein.

Johnny put his arms straight out in front of him and started a stiff-legged walk while moaning. Just like he'd seen in all those monster movies.

Frankenstein looked on in confusion and asked, "Is he making fun of me?" Crap. They weren't buying it. He started moaning louder as he paced around.

Dracula defended him while trying to slap Johnny's arms down and said, "No, no. Of course he's not, because he's…" Was the moaning _too_ much? Was that the problem? He stopped when Dracula forced his mouth closed. He looked up at Dracula sheepishly.

Mavis supplied, "He's your cousin. Johnnystein."

Dracula quickly jumped in and agreed with the cover story, "Yes, yes, yes." He patted Johnny on the shoulder with each 'yes.'

Frankenstein looked confused and stated, "I don't have no cousin."

Dracula assured Frankenstein, "No, no, you do. He's your sixth cousin, three times removed."

Johnny jumped in with a detail, "On your right arm's side." We wiggled the fingers on his own right arm to demonstrate.

Frankenstein lifted his right arm and asked it, "You have a cousin?"

Dracula expanded on their little fib, "Frank, if your arm could talk, he would tell you that the original owner of your arm had a brother."

Johnny added, "Who married a woman." Then he looked towards Dracula for guidance.

Dracula continued, "Who was hanged." He moved his finger across his throat and tilted his head to the side to help illustrate his point.

"For strangling a pig!" Johnny finished their odd game. He'd told stories around campfires before in the same fashion. That was always a good game for an ice-breaker.

Frankenstein exclaimed, "I have pig-strangling blood in my arm? That's kind of cool," he admitted. "Well, cuz, great to meet you." He grabbed Johnny by the hand, and in the process of 'shaking hands' managed to shake Johnny himself up and down repeatedly. He got slammed into the ground several times.

That was gonna bruise… And his hand was crushed. He tried to flex his fingers to get the feeling back into them.

"So, what brings you here, Johnny?" a voice came from behind him.

Johnny jumped back against Frankenstein and exclaimed, "Wah! What was that?" There was only a floating pair of glasses in front of him.

"Oh, sorry," the glasses apologized. "I should really clear my throat before I speak. Anyway, what brings you here?" Whoa. That wasn't a pair of glasses! Well. Ok, it was. _But_ they were attached to The Invisible Man! How cool is that? Johnny caught his hand drifting up a couple times to try to put it in his mouth. He had to keep pulling his hand back.

He suddenly remembered he was asked a question and came up with the answer that Dracula had provided for him, "Oh. Uh. Party? Planner?"

Dracula rushed forward and hastily agreed, "Yes, I have recruited Mr. Stein here to help me with Mavis's birthday party."

The mummy-dude started and asked incredulously, "Wait a minute. You? Asked someone to help _you_?"

The werewolf-man chimed in, "Captain Control Freak?"

"It's Count…" Dracula corrected. "And yes, I thought having a Mavis contemporary would be useful."

Johnny decided to just roll with the cover-story and chimed in, "Yeah, he totally needed a fresher perspective." Although this just earned a glare from Dracula.

The group of monsters in front of him smiled to each other and the wolf-man addressed him, "Okay, Johnny. Mr. Tight Coffin over here was planning to have these powdered lame-o's play at the party." He gestured to who was apparently Zombie Mozart, Zombie Beethoven, and Zombie Bach.

Frankenstein put an arm around the werewolf-man and the mummy-dude and added, "So, anyways, we thought we could liven things up a bit." They all grinned hopefully at him. Werewolf-man had _a lot_ of teeth.

"Whoa! You all play? Let's check you guys out!" Johnny said excitedly, gesturing to the group in front of him. He _loved_ music, and the chance to hear _monsters_ jam was too good an opportunity to miss.

They all got up on stage. Frankenstein on bass, the mummy-dude on guitar, werewolf-man on keyboard, and the Invisible Man on drums. Then they started singing a slow, lounge-type song.

Frankenstein started, " _Girl. I can_ _'_ _t believe it_ _'_ _s your big night_." Johnny couldn't help but be slightly disappointed in the slow tune.

The mummy started the next line, " _Seems like only yesterday you were eating mosquitoes_."

Everyone joined in and sang, " _But now you_ _'_ _re eating frogs and mice_."

Frankenstein continued, " _Scarfing them down like Doritos_."

Everyone sang, " _Tell me. Where did the time go, girl_?"

Johnny couldn't take it anymore. If he was pretending to be a party planner, then we was gonna pretend to be a good one. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, guys. Stop," he stopped them and got their attention. "That's cute, but kind of old school," he commented.

"Yes, thank you, Johnny," Dracula agreed with him.

"You got to totally tempo things up," Johnny continued. He rushed up to the stage and took the guitar from the mummy as he said, "Here, let me show you."

Johnny called out excitedly, "Werewolf-man, give me a jam!" Once he played a chord, Johnny counted out a quick tempo before strumming the guitar and singing right to Mavis, "Two, three, four! _Vampire girl with the fangy fangs. Hair real cute with the bangy bangs. Little princess gonna be a queen. Legal bat lady turning one-eighteen!_ _"_

The crowd that had suddenly gathered echoed, " _One-eighteen_!"

Johnny continued pumping up the crowd, " _Say one-eighteen!"_

And the crowd responded, " _One-eighteen_!"

"Yeah! Stage dive!" he hollered. He threw the guitar back to the mummy and dove off the stage. Unfortunately, nobody caught him so he just belly-flopped on the floor. Still though. "Awesome," he commented.

Mavis's voice came from behind him and said excitedly, "I am so blown away right now." Johnny was just ecstatic that she enjoyed the little song that he literally made up on the spot for her.

Frankenstein then said, "I think my cuz-" Johnny was suddenly lifted in the air by his jacket and brought up to eye-level with his 'cousin.' Johnny was worried he'd offended the big guy somehow and just hoped he wasn't about to get hurt, until he continued, "-is gonna make this the Best! Party! Ever!" Johnny smiled in relief as he was put back down on the ground.

The mummy added, "Yeah! Maybe he can find a way to get me some chicks."

Suddenly everyone was excitedly talking at the same time while surrounding Johnny. He couldn't help but smile at the attention. "Well, I mean… Yeah, I guess," he tried to keep up with the questions.

"We're not doing any of that," Dracula interrupted the verbal celebration by floating over the crowd. "We've got to stay on schedule, all right?"

"All right, Dad, all right," Mavis agreed in the put-upon tone that every young-adult child uses with their parents. "Johnny, you're coming, too," she declared as she placed a pale hand on his chest. His heart nearly stopped. In nervousness? Anticipation? Just the fact that she touched him? He wasn't quite sure why.

Johnny answered, "I don't know. Is it cool with Dracula? I've gotta make sure he's cool with it…"

Everyone grouped around him was saying, "Johnny, come with us," while he was semi-protesting.

He glanced up at Dracula to see him glaring in his direction. Johnny shrunk back a little, but just shrugged at him. He would totally follow his friend's lead, but he wasn't sure what he should do.

Dracula finally sighed as he floated back down and said flatly with aggravation lacing his voice, "Fine. You can come with us."

"Alright!" Johnny cheered and followed the crowd to their next event.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Johnny should have made up some lame party planning thing that he needed to do. The next _exciting_ event was Bingo.

Bingo.

He'd traveled over 6,300 miles from home just to end up at a Bingo game.

At least he was sitting next to Mavis. But even that thrill couldn't keep him from falling asleep as he sat there. Mavis looked bored too, but she decided to play the game.

Finally, _finally!_ Someone called "Bingo." Once that was settled everyone moved to the gym. Johnny made sure to walk next to Mavis to chat with her as they relocated.

"Do you, uh… _always_ play Bingo," he asked her quietly. But he couldn't keep the disbelieving tone from his voice.

Mavis giggled and moved some of her dark hair behind an ear and replied just as quietly, "Sometimes. Dad and Aunt Eunice both enjoy it. And… well… sometimes Dad can be a little old-fashioned."

Jonathan smiled at her and said, "It's kinda sweet that you played along for his sake. Even if _I_ know that you were bored to tears." He allowed the back of his hand to brush gently against the back of hers as they walked. "We're going to the gym now, so the next event should be exciting." A game of monster-basketball would be killer!

Mavis looked away shyly real quick before glancing back at him. "Maybe," she answered, as she returned his small gesture by brushing her hand against his.

They reached the gym and everyone settled into the bleachers. Johnny sat next to Mavis once again. However, Dracula squeezed between them and sat down. Johnny rolled his eyes, huffed, and moved over to give himself more room. He didn't want to get on Dracula's bad side, because he wanted to keep his blood _inside_ his body thank-you-very-much. But he could be such a grandpa!

Johnny paid attention as a human-sized fly stood in the center of the gym. He eagerly awaited the announcement of the next event.

His jaw dropped.

Charades.

They are utilizing a _gym_ for a game of charades. With spectators.

Was this _really_ what monsters do for fun? It can't be. Everyone but Dracula looked bored out of their mind. And he was sitting _between_ Johnny and Mavis. So that wasn't ideal either.

Wait. Wasn't _he_ the party planner? He'd liven this group up. He jumped to his backpack, which had finally gotten returned to him, and pulled out his folding scooter.

He hopped on it and rode right through both games of charades to get the attention on himself. Once he made a pass and woke everyone up, he did a couple of quick tricks before passing the scooter to the mummy. He'd let him borrow his guitar after all.

The mummy sat on the scooter and scooted himself along with both his legs, laughing all the way across the gym. The next creature that used it was a disembodied hand. Followed by a whole gang of werewolf pups. The yeti tried it next, but the scooter slipped out from under him, causing him to fall with a huge crash through the bleachers.

Then a gremlin lady caught the scooter as it was traveling past her. But instead of riding it, she opened her mouth wide and _ate_ it. "I didn't do that," she commented right afterward. Everyone groaned in disappointment.

Well… at least his backpack would be ten pounds lighter until he could replace it.

Everyone in the gym started standing up and there were several mentions of moving down to the pool. Johnny shouldered his backpack and followed the crowd. He was slightly disappointed that he'd lost sight of Mavis, but overall, just happy to be involved. He made a turn to funnel with the crowd through the gym's exit, but felt his backpack hit somebody.

He sidled out of the crowd before turning, to avoid hitting anyone else, and apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry, man." He only spotted a pair of glasses hovering a foot off the ground. Realizing that he'd bumped into the Invisible Man, he reached a hand down and repeated, " _Really_ sorry, drummer-dude. This thing has a mind of its own." Johnny felt an invisible hand grasp his, and he helped the guy up.

"It's Griffin, actually," The Invisible Man corrected him. "It's my fault, really. I should know better than to try to merge with a crowd."

"Nice to meet you, Griffin. We can let it die down a bit. That's cool," Johnny replied.

"Hey. That was pretty cool with the scooter. So don't be _too_ upset if Drac tries to chew you out for 'ruining' the charade tournament," Griffin advised. "You know how vampires can be."

He scanned the room looking for Dracula as he chuckled nervously, "Oh yeah. I know what you mean." He didn't. But as a 'monster' that a vampire 'hired,' he probably would. He decided to quickly change the subject, "So… I hope you don't mind, but I have, like, a _ton_ of questions."

Griffin sighed and replied, "Might as well. Not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon."

"Awesome!" he cheered excitedly. "So, can you see yourself? If not, can you block your vision or do you see _through_ your eyelids? Are you wearing clothes, and how are they invisible? Or are you… _desnudo_? Oh! And if I was to stick my hand in your mouth, would it disappear?" He bombarded Griffin with questions and ended up pointing at his left hand.

The glasses moved back and forth as Griffin shook his head. "You Steins. So excitable," he muttered.

Johnny blinked then remembered about his disguise. He let out a fake laugh and said, "Well, it runs in the family." Then he started begging, "Aww, come on. Please answer. Or at least let me do the hand thing."

Griffin looked around and said, "Look. The crowd's gone. And if we're late to the pool, we might not get any food. If I let you do 'the hand thing' will you drop it?"

"Absolutely!" He agreed as he brought his left hand up to where he thought Griffin's mouth should be.

Griffin sighed again and muttered, "I can't believe I'm doing this." He felt Griffin grab his wrist and direct his hand towards the floating glasses. He saw his fingers slowly vanish up to his knuckles as they began feeling hot and damp.

"So cool! And a little gross. But awesome," he said in awe.

Griffin then pulled Johnny's hand out of his mouth and spat. "Bleh! No offense, but you taste terrible! Like paint or something," Griffin said as he spit again.

Johnny was about to wipe his hand off on his shorts but stopped when he registered what Griffin said. He instead just patted his hand against his shorts to help dry it off and to keep from smearing his makeup. "None taken," he answered nonchalantly. "I was trying out some paints for decorations for the party. Thought I got it all," he lied.

"Peh! Never doing that again," Griffin mumbled. "Come on, kid. Let's head to the pool before all the bubonic moose nose omelets are gone."

"Right… right," he answered uncertainly as they headed for the door. That did _not_ sound appetizing in the least. He'd have to grab a protein bar from his backpack.

As they entered the hallway, Dracula greeted them and threw an arm around him, "Johnny! There you are. I need you for party planning. Hello, Griffin."

"Yeah, hey Drac. Catch ya by the pool," Griffin said as his glasses floated away from them.

Dracula watched him walk away from them before asking Johnny, "Do you have a swim suit in that pack of yours?"

He rolled his eyes and answered, "Yeah. I have a pair of trunks." He set his backpack down, rummaged inside and pulled out his slightly stiff pair of swim trunks.

Dracula shook his head and said, "No, no, no. That doesn't cover enough of you. The lack of stiches would give you away."

Johnny nodded in agreement and said, "Oh yeah." He reached in his bag and pulled out a shirt. "I can always wear a t-shirt with it."

"No, that still won't work," Dracula said again. "It's too human-y." He turned and began walking away. "Come. Let's see if we can find you something suitable."

He just shrugged and followed. At least they weren't heading for the front door so he could stay a little longer.


End file.
